Drinking cup



Nov. 10, 1959 J, OLSO 2,911,946

DRINKING CUP Filed Dec. 19, 1956 INVENTOR. Jahw 5, 0450M W ,armym A r TOIEMEYS United States Patent DRINKING CUP John B. Olson, Fort Atkinson, Wis., assignor to Rockwood & Co., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application December 19, 1956, Serial No. 629,275

2 Claims. (Cl. 119-75) This invention relates to a drinking cup for livestock and more particularly to a novel valve structure therefor by which the rate of flow of water into the cup is regulated.

In livestock drinking cups of the character described, water is admitted to the cup through a valve actuated by pressure of the animal on a paddle lever disposed in the cup. Until recently water pressure in livestock barns has been conventionally relatively low. Accordingly, on actuation of the paddle lever, the water flows into the cup without excessive turbulence and without the water splashing out of the cup. More recently, however, water pressure imposed on the piping in dairy barns and the like has been considerably increased and in the drinking cups heretofore used the conventional valve does not regulate flow of water sufiiciently closely to precl de violent tubulence of the Water as it enters the cup and splashes therefrom.

It is a feature of the device of the present invention that the valve structure includes means for uniformal'y restricting the rate of flow of water to the cup throughout the full range of paddle lever movement. Accordingly, the valve structure of the present invention precludes splashing of water from the cup regardless of its connection to a high pressure water system.

In the specific embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, the valve structure includes a walled passage in the path of Water flow through the valve. Within the passage there is a flow restricted spool means which has a uniform clearance from the passage wall. This clearance remains constant on axial movement of the stem on which the spool is mounted. Accordingly, the rate of flow remains constant regardless of the extent to which the valve is opened. In this manner water flow is limited below the rate which would otherwise be permitted by the valve acting alone and the water flows smoothly into the cup without substantial turbulence or splashing.

Inasmuch as the device of the present invention may be sold for connection also to a low pressure water system in which restriction of the flow of water into the cup might not be necessary or desirable, means is provided for disabling the flow restricting apparatus to permit increased flow on such systems. In the disclosed embodiment of the present invention this is accomplished merely by adjusting the linkage connections between the paddle lever and the valve system. With the linkage adjusted for application of the device to a low pressure water system, the valve stem has relatively great movement or throw and maximum actuation of the paddle advances the valve stem to a point where the flow restricting spool means is withdrawn from the passage entirely, thus greatly increasing the effective cross sectional area of the passage with increased water fiow therethrough. With the linkage adjusted for application of the device to a high pressure water system the range of movement of the valve stem is reduced so that even at the point of its maximum throw the restricting spool ICC means remains at least partially within the passage to restrict the flow of water. In both cases an ample vol: ume of water is supplied to the cup without splashing.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a device embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section taken through thedevice of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken through the valve structure showing one position of the valve.

Fig. 4 is a similar enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken through the valve structure and showing the valve in another position.

The drinking cup 8 is shown mounted in conventional fashion from a stall pipe 9 or the like. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the cup 8 is provided with clamp rods 10 which bear on a clamp saddle 11 to adjustably mount the cup on the pipe 9.

The cup has an internally chambered water admission housing 12 provided at its top and bottom with axially aligned threaded couplings 13, 14. Accordingly, the water supply pipe may be connected to the housing at either its top or bottom. As illustrated in the drawings the water supply pipe 15 is connected to coupling 13, coupling 14 being closed by the plug 18.

The housing 12 is desirably internally provided with an air hell or expansion chamber 19 which provides for strain relief in the event water in housing 12 freezes in cold weather. Chamber 19 also provides against water hammer.

The housing 12 is further provided with a valve housing including a body portion 20 with internal webs which provide a valve partition at 21 and axially spaced apertured valve stem guide brackets 22, 23. Partition 21 has an upwardly flaring conical valve seat at 28. Valve plug 24 has a complementary downwardly tapered conical surface 29 which seals against the seat 28 in the closed position of the valve plug. Plug 24 is supported on its stem 25 which is guided in brackets 22, 23 for reciprocation therein in the movement of the valve plug 24 to and from its seat 28.

Beyond seat 28 partition 21 has an aperture or passage 31 which in the embodiment illustra1ed is cylindrical and communicates with passage 30 to direct water admitted through the valve into the cup. The outlet from passage 30 is desirably above the level of the top rim of cup 8 to preclude siphoning of Water in the cup back into the water supply pipe 15. Immediately adjacent plug 24 stem 25 is provided with a flow regulating cylindrical spool 32 which is selectively disposed in and beyond passage 31 depending upon the position of the valve stem. Below spool 32 stem 25 is materially cut away at 26 toa small diameter.

Note particularly from Fig. 3 that spool 32 is of slightly smaller diameter than the walled passage 31 whereby to provide uniform clearance indicated by reference character 33 between the spool and the cylindrical wall of passage 31. By way of example, in one commercial embodiment of the invention the passage 31 has a diameter of 33/64 and spool 32 has a diameter of /2", the clearance 33 in the drawing is exaggerated for purposes of illustration. Accordingly, even though tapered portion 29 of the valve plug 24 is released from the valve seat 28, the flow of water through the valve structure is restricted to the clearance space 33 between spool 32 and the wall of passage 31 as long as any part of the spool 32 is within the passage. But for the provision of spool 32 the retraction of the valve plug 24 from the seat 28 might permit excessive flow of water from a high a cushion pressure system to flow through the valve structure and into the cup 8, causing splashing as aforesaid.

The valve body 20 is provided at its lower portion with a bracket extension 34 on which the paddle lever 35 is pivotally mounted on the pintle 36. Paddle lever 35 has an arm 37 extending beyond the pintle 36. Arm 37 carries an adjustable screw 38 which has a head 39 bearing against the lower end of the valve stem 25. Accordingly, as the paddle lever 35 is depressed, it will lift the valve stem 25 against the bias of return spring 41 to open the valve.

The throw of stem 35 is limited by the permissible range of movement of the paddle lever 35 in the cup 8. Spring 41 will normally bias the paddle lever 35 to its position illustrated in Fig. 2 in which the valve plug 24 is closed against its seat 28. When the animal pushes down on the paddle lever 35 it will normally depress the paddle until it contacts the bottom of the cup 8. With screw 38 set in a position to elevate paddle lever 35 substantially above the bottom of cup 8 in its normal position, the throw imparted to the stem 25 will be sufficient to project the valve plug 24 and associated parts to their position shown in Fig. 4. The flow regulating spool 32 is thus completely projected out of the walled passage 31 and no longer exerts limiting control over the flow of water passing through the passage. This setting would normally be made for attachment of the device to a low pressure water system.

If the screw 38 is adjusted to provide for relatively less clearance between the paddle lever 35 and the bottom of cup 8 in its normal position, the maximum throw of valve stem 25 will be much less, as illustrated in Fig. 3 in which the spool 32 remains in the walled passage 31 at maximum throw of the stem. At this setting the spool 32 limits flow of water through the valve structure in all positions of the valve and this setting is appro-\ priate for a high pressure system as aforesaid. For the differential effect aforesaid, the axial length of spool 32 is less than the maximum movement of the stem with screw 38 adjusted for a low pressure water supply and the axial length of spool 32 is greater than the maximum movement of the stem'with screw 38 adjusted for a high pressure water supply.

From the foregoing, it is clear that the device of the present invention is adapted for connection to either high or low pressure water systems, ample water volume without splashing being achieved under all circumstances.

What is claimed is:

l. A drinking cup comprising a bowl having a substantially vertical rear Wall, a water connection including a valve, a valve actuating paddle in the bowl, linkage from said paddle to the valve and a housing for said linkage projecting substantially vertically downwardly into the bowl in spaced relation to said rear wall of the bowl, said housing and wall together comprising a splash battle, and a downwardly directed outlet from said valve above the level of the top of the bowl and behind the said housing whereby water discharged from said outlet above the level of the top of the bowl will be discharged substantially vertically downwardly into said bowl between the rear wall of the bowl and the housing and will be baflied by said housing against splashing forwardly of the housing.

2. The device of claim 1 in which said linkage com-| prises a valve stem, said housing having spaced bearings for said stem.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,743,719 Louden et al. Jan. 14, 1930 2,260,817 Anderson Oct. 28, 1941 2,476,876 Klinzing July 19, 1949 2,506,735 Olson May 9, 1950 2,585,547 Harmon Feb. 12, 1952 2,614,531 Futterer Oct. 21, 1952 2,764,960 Ferris Oct. 2, 1956 

